GTI Fanfest took place in Wolfsburg from July 26 to July 28.

Our very own Diagnostic Technician & High Voltage Expert Riccardo Macari met Andreas Mindt Head of Volkswagen Design at the GTI Fanfest in Wolfsburg.

Hosted on the shores of Lake Wörthersee, in Austria, since 1982, news of the growing reluctance of the local community of this area to continue hosting up to 200 000 excitable fans of the Volkswagen brand over a four-day festival sparked immediate intrigue within the halls of VWAG’s Wolfsburg head office. While the annual pilgrimage of predominantly Golf GTI fans had arguably outgrown this otherwise quaint location, Volkswagen saw an opportunity to “bring it home” in the form of an inaugural GTI Fan Festival hosted on the doorstep of its Wolfsburg Plant. 

Attracting 15 000 visitors and hundreds of prized Volkswagen Golf GTIs from all eight generations of this iconic hatchback, the first GTI Fan Festival was a feast for those with an affinity for the famous red pinstripe and those three capital letters. From GTI-branded Adidas trainers to t-shirts, jackets, posters, sets of interior carpets, valve caps and an official Volkswagen Classic stand ready to sell you a replacement grille for any generation GTI, the show catered to all needs.